Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on March 21, 2024

Rabbi Yisroel Goldberg, head of the Chabad of Rechavia, has been hard at work for years making a place for people to feel at home in the center of Jerusalem.

If theres one place that really needs a Chabad center, its right here in Rehavia, he said.

Besides representing one of the worlds largest Jewish religious organizations in the Israeli capital, Goldberg is behind a unique Purim initiative: Azza Zaza.

Ahead of Purim, In Jerusalem sat down with Rabbi Goldberg to talk about his work at Chabad of Rechavia and his signature initiative.

I came here around 14 years ago. The first year, we didnt have a center. We did things from our homes or from local synagogues. In the summer of 2011, we opened our first center in the Windmill. A couple of years before COVID-19, we bought our current center, next to the Great Synagogue on King George Ave. In a couple of weeks, were going to move into our new location, on the corner of Keren Kayemet LeIsrael and Ussishkin streets.

If you think about it, theres one place in the world that everyone wants to go to. Everybody comes to Jerusalem, everybody wants to be here; and when theyre here, they want to get closer. Jerusalem is the place. After the Kotel, whats the next place that people go to from a Jewish perspective to spend time, to have an experience? Its right here in Rehavia. You have the big shuls, the big international organizations its really the place to be. Its such a great privilege to be the representative of Chabad in the center of Jerusalem, which is the center of the world. Thats why Im so determined to build such a large center. I believe that within a year or two, were going to have millions of people from around the world moving here because everyone sees how amazing and special Israel is. Its a huge privilege for us to build an infrastructure that can help people feel at home.

Jerusalem has over 30 Chabad houses and over 60 Chabad rabbis. Every community in Jerusalem is covered. In Rehavia-Nahlaot, there are some 10,000 homes, and we have three rabbis. Some of the homes are obviously owned by our dear friends in the Diaspora. In most regular cities in the US or Europe, 10,000 Jewish homes would be spread out over a huge geographic area. Here, its all crunched into one square kilometer. The idea is you want Chabad houses for x amount of people.

Half a year into being here, I wanted to make an activity for Purim where people could feel at home, hear the Megillah [Esther] reading, receive mishloach manot [sending gifts], donate money to the poor, and have a seudat [festive meal] Purim. But I didnt have a center at the time, so what could I do?

Azza Road has a bunch of restaurants, so I went to the kosher restaurant owners and made them an offer: Id come and read the Megillah there and do the advertising for it, and they would set aside a time and space for Megillah reading, mishloach manot, and donating money. In return, Id encourage the participants to buy their seuda there. Seven of them said yes.

I came up with the name Azza Zaza because it was on Azza Street, and zaza means to rock, and we rocked Azza Street. I thought it would be nice if five people came to each place. But it turned out to be such a major success that we had dozens of people in each place. The first year, the restaurants were jam-packed. Every year, we add more and more places. We added the restaurants on Keren Kayemet LeIsrael St. Then the next year, we added the ones on Bezalel St. Then we did Ginot and Nahlaot, which is very popular, with 100 to 200 people at every Megillah reading.

But you see people from different backgrounds, and the unity is so special. This is beautiful, this is a model for how Am Yisrael should be. I think its so important this year, more than any other year.

Thats an interesting question. During COVID, we couldnt do it in the restaurants. So for two years, we only did it in open areas. That led us to change things a bit. Now we have Azza Zaza in key locations around Rehavia, Nahlaot, Kiryat Shmuel, and Shaarei Hessed, which is very convenient. We added new restaurants too, and some of them are on Azza. When we did some research beforehand about what people liked about Azza Zaza, many participants, especially non-religious people, said they liked that it was in restaurants, so were trying to keep that.

To learn more, visit AzzaZaza.com

More:

Rabbi Yisroel Goldberg: Chabad rabbi who goes to Gaza Street on Purim - The Jerusalem Post

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